Local Plan Representations

The local Plan forms part of the Statutory Development Plan which is used to guide planning decision making.

Strategic Land Promotion is best undertaken through the Local Plan. The Local Plan states where land will be developed, what for and in what quantity.

The Local Plan is produced by the Local Planning Authority (LPA) and contains all the policies the Authority uses to guide their development decisions. It also allocates land for various types of development. If you have land which you believe may have planning potential, it is important to promote it through the Local Plan, as it will strengthen its likelihood to be considered suitable for development in the future.

A ‘Call for Sites’ is issued at the initial evidence gathering stage, as part of the Strategic Housing/Economic Land Availability Assessment (SHELAA), see the SHELAA Factsheet for more information on this process.

If your site is under the jurisdiction of an LPA which is currently drafting a new Local Plan, it is important to continue its representation.

As the Local Plan goes through its many stages of drafting and consultation, there are opportunities for us as planning agents to make further representations to promote your land and increase its chances of allocation. The various stages are set out in the diagram below. There are opportunities to make representations at each stage so even if the drafting of the plan has commenced,
representations can still make a difference. The Local Plan process takes a number of years and plans are regularly being reviewed as housing requirements change. It is therefore important that you have an agent monitoring the policy position and preparing robust representations at every relevant stage.

Once a parcel of land is included in the Local Plan as an allocated site, planning permission still needs to be obtained but the principle of development has been accepted, thereby significantly increasing the value of the land.